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March 19, 2024

Las Vegas product Pumphrey has San Diego State football thinking big

Football Picks of the Week: Sept. 10, 2015

San Diego State’s Donnel Pumphrey runs 94-yards for a touchdown against New Mexico during the second half of an NCAA college football game Friday, Oct. 10, 2014 in Albuquerque, N.M. Pumphrey rushed for a career-high 246 yards on 20 carries. San Diego State won 24-14. (AP Photo/Eric Draper)

Las Vegas Aztecs

Recruiting Donnel Pumphrey out of Las Vegas wasn’t the only time San Diego State has dipped into Southern Nevada to build its roster, or its coaching staff.

A pair of former UNLV head coaches, Bobby Hauck and Jeff Horton, are San Diego State’s associate head coaches. And wide receivers coach Hunkie Cooper spent more than a decade at Canyon Springs High.

The relationship of each with area high school coaches gives San Diego State an edge when searching for players. Coaches, for example, know San Diego State is interested in their players, and contact them to stop by for a visit when scouting the area.

In addition to Pumphrey, six others from Southern Nevada are expected to be on San Diego State’s roster this season. They include: senior linebacker Randy Ricks (Legacy), senior defensive lineman Sam Tai (Liberty), junior linebacker Tyler Morris (Foothill), sophomore defensive lineman Noble Hall (Valley), and a pair of freshmen from Green Valley in kicker Conor Perkins and wide receiver Isiah Macklin.

Another 2017 recruit, Ethan Dedeaux of Liberty, is verbally committed to sign in February.

Their goals aren’t hidden or whispered in the halls. As Mountain West Conference football media days get underway at the Cosmopolitan this week, it’s no secret what San Diego State thinks it can do this year: win the Mountain West, play in a New Year’s Bowl, go undefeated.

Those are lofty aspirations, but the team had one of the best seasons in program history in 2015. Following through on the Aztecs’ goals this year will depend largely on a senior running back once deemed too small for the big stage.

“We have expectations to be great,” said Donnel Pumphrey, a Canyon Springs High graduate whom SDSU is trumpeting as a Heisman Trophy candidate. “We know what we’re capable of.”

Among active players, Pumphrey is the nation’s leader in career rushing yards (4,272), rushing touchdowns (45) and all-purpose yardage (5,145). As he approaches Marshall Faulk’s school rushing record (4,589), it’s clear many college recruiters didn’t recognize Pumphrey’s ability.

The 5-foot-9, 180-pounder ran for 4,152 yards and 49 touchdowns over a Pioneers career that ended with him as the Gatorade Nevada Player of the Year in 2013. Pumphrey took only an unofficial visit to UNLV, and bigger schools that came through town would tell then-Canyon Springs coach Hunkie Cooper that they had bigger players in mind.

“ ‘Coop, we love him; he’s just too small.’ ‘He has it, but we’re going to go in a different direction,’” Cooper recalled. “It’s frustrating.”

In the end, Pumphrey’s stature and Cooper’s past worked together for one of the most fortuitous recruiting coups in Mountain West history. The one guy who always believed Cooper when he called Pumphrey one of the best football players he had ever seen was SDSU running backs coach Jeff Horton, who was a UNLV assistant when Cooper played six positions for the Rebels.

Horton, who’s now the offensive coordinator and an associate head coach to Rocky Long, bought into Cooper’s vision and comparisons of Pumphrey to another great Las Vegas tailback, Bishop Gorman High’s DeMarco Murray. As other schools came and went, it was easy for Pumphrey to identify the place that believed in him.

“I fell in love,” Pumphrey said. “Everything about San Diego State felt great.”

Still, few could have imagined how well the partnership would work out for both sides. Pumphrey earned SDSU’s Outstanding Freshman award, then became a two-time team MVP as well as two-time first-team All-Mountain West pick as a sophomore and junior.

He also was one of the biggest reasons for SDSU’s remarkable 2015 turnaround, when the Aztecs started 1-3, then rattled off 10 consecutive victories to win the league and the Hawaii Bowl. Over the first four games, Pumphrey averaged 3.5 yards per carry with three touchdowns. Over the final 10, he averaged 5.5 yards per carry and six times he scored at least two touchdowns in a game.

“That was probably the most unselfish team I’ve been around,” Pumphrey said. “We learned from last year’s team, and we’re excited to lead this year’s team to bigger and better things.”

Pumphrey said he never imagined his name being mentioned alongside guys like Faulk or for awards like the Heisman or Walter Camp Player of the Year Award.

Cooper’s not surprised.

After a Hall of Fame receiving career in the Arena Football League, Cooper spent 10 years at Canyon Springs. He started off summer workouts with an 8.6-mile run that included pit stops at homeless shelters or cemeteries to warn players what could happen if they didn’t get an education.

Pumphrey was never one of the guys Cooper had to worry about. From the time he saw Pumphrey play youth football, the coach could tell he was mentally ahead of the game, and watching Pumphrey grow up and maintain good grades further entrenched Cooper’s belief.

“He’s been durable, he’s been a leader, he’s going to graduate and this young man is (318) yards from breaking the record at San Diego State,” Cooper said. “The only thing I’m surprised by is he’s finally able to put some weight on.”

Last season, Cooper left Canyon Springs to become the wide receivers coach at SDSU. Now he gets to continue to help Pumphrey’s career while working alongside the coach who believed in the diminutive back, Horton, and one who was skeptical, former UNLV coach and current SDSU special teams coordinator/associate head coach Bobby Hauck.

While Cooper enjoyed being up close for Pumphrey’s 2,069 all-purpose yards last season, the greater joy has been continuing to be around him away from the game.

“D.J.’s life is not only on the football field,” Cooper said. “Growing up in North Las Vegas, there are some tough times, but he did everything he could to better himself.”

No matter how his senior season plays out, Pumphrey is on track for success. But there are a few things he and the Aztecs intend to check off their list before he moves on to trying to prove himself in the NFL.

“How our season is set up,” Pumphrey said, “we can do great things.”

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